Inbound Marketing for Manufacturers Blog

Does Your B2B Website Suck?

Let me guess: when you wonder if your B2B website sucks, the first thing you think about is the design.

We hear it all the time. Everyone hates their website design after the first six months. While design is important, there are four even more important factors that determine the suckiness of your website.

1. Does Your B2B Website Generate Leads and Sales?

Above anything else, a lack of leads and sales is the biggest sign that your B2B website sucks. If your website doesn't generate quality leads for your salespeople, why have a website at all?

Your website should be converting at least 2% of visitors into leads (AT MINIMUM).

If your site gets 1,000 visitors/month, you should be getting at least 20 leads per month. If you get 500 visitors, you should pull in at least 10 leads per month. Again, those numbers are based on the low end of 2%.

With a quality inbound marketing strategy, you should have a 3-5% conversion rate (if not higher). The good news is: if you're missing this target, you have big opportunities to improve your marketing strategy.

Moral of the Story:

2. Do You Have a Blog?

Didn't know you should have a blog? Bummer, your site probably sucks. (The reason has less to do with SEO than you might expect.)

Most website pages are focused on you, your products, your services, your team, and your history. See a theme here?

It's like a rotating digital billboard displaying your greatness. The problem is, your prospects aren't your mom. They don't glow with pride over how great you are. In fact, they couldn't care less until they're ready to buy. At that point, it's too late to trot out your humility.

A blog's biggest benefit (aside from SEO) is that it allows you to write educational content (instead of a press release) like a human being. Blog content answers your buyers' common questions. It offers helpful, supportive information that your prospects don't want to ask you directly. It also establishes rapport and shows off your personality.

Moral of the Story:

If you don't have a blog that you are contributing to weekly, your website sucks.

It's almost 2017. If you want to attract prospects to your website, your site had better rank in Google for relevant search terms. If it doesn't, your B2B website probably sucks.

Did you notice the highlighted word "relevant" above? It's important to make a distinction between what you as the business person think is relevant versus what your prospects think is relevant.

For example, you may pick your part's branded name as a keyword. That seems reasonable, right? Well, yes and no. Someone searching for your part by name already knows you and may even be doing business with you. Or, they may be a late stage buyer, doing comparisons online.

What they aren't is a prospect in the early stages of the buying process. This prospect doesn't know you, doesn't know the name of your part, and probably doesn't care about either at this point.

However, they'll certainly care about the problem your part solves. To make sure you're getting in front of prospects early, you have to rank for keywords that align with the prospect's description of their problem or opportunity.

Moral of the Story:

If you only rank for your company name and branded products, your website sucks.

4. Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?

News flash! Smartphones are a big a deal. In fact, Google has indicated that more than 50% of searches are conducted from a smartphone.

According to CNet, Black Friday shoppers spent $1.2 BILLION from their smartphones and tablets this year. This year, Amazon also indicated that mobile Thanksgiving shopping exceeded that of last year's Black Friday and Thanksgiving. Combined.

Smartphones are our go-to knowledge seeking device. Whether buyers are looking for 4K TVs or tubular steel fabricators, the search usually starts on their smartphone.

This means your website needs to be responsive. It should automatically reconfigure itself for intuitive, easy navigation on screens of all sizes. Your desktop website alone doesn't cut it anymore.

Moral of the Story:

If your website doesn't use responsive design, it sucks.

5. Is Your Website Ugly as Sin?

Some websites look like they fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.

While looks aren't everything, they do affect the suckiness level of your website. Most of the time, you are your website's biggest critic - it's important to remember that prospects visit B2B websites for information, not to analyze the emotional impact of a work of art.

That being said, your website should have an industry-appropriate, relatively modern aesthetic. It should be easy to navigate and direct the user where you want them to go. It should use complementary colors and professional fonts that don't cause the reader's eyes to bleed.

I can say with complete confidence that most of the time, design is the least of your worries with an under-performing website. We only redesign when it's required to address items 1-4.

Moral of the Story:

If your website looks like it was designed before 2006 and/or it's holding back numbers 1-4, it sucks.

As a manufacturer, you know that trade shows are an important facet of getting the word out about your business and making connections with potential clients. We've compiled this guide of best trade show tips to help you stand out, maximize leads and traffic, save time with technology/tools, and calculate your ultimate trade show ROI.